Running
by Jaspethyst
Summary: (Changed summary) A short story about Rhydian and Maddy finding each other. Contains spoilers. Enjoy the story. :) I DON'T OWN WOLFBLOOD.
1. Bloodied Paws

**Authors note:  
Hey there! This is my first fanfic on here; so reviews and comments are always welcome, and greatly appreciated. I'm not going to ask you to be gentle with me; if you think my fic is terrible, say so, and tell me why, and how it can be improved: If you think, by some chance, that it is ok, or even good, please let me know. :) This is part one of a two (possibly three)chapter fic.**

_Jana, had been kind, yes, but Maddy_ knows J_anas pack will **never** be home: they say home is where the heart is; Maddys heart is far away, in a place called Stoneybridge. Her physical heart is beating in her chest, quickly, bah-thump, bah-thump, bah-thump, but her emotion-heart is nowhere near as close by as he should be._  
_Maddy runs. She runs and runs and runs, in the swift wolf-lope she can keep up for a day or more, it would seem, till her paws are bloodied, and her fur is slick with chilling sweat in the Winter night. Once she gets tangled in a bramble-patch, and loses a few good-sized chunks of fur, and recieves a fine rip to her left ear as a result. Thrice she stumble-swims through small rivers, geting soaked in the process, but at least getting rid of the mud and sweat that cakes her fur. How long she runs for, she does not know. Perhaps a day. Probably longer. Certainly the Sun rises and sets more than once._

_But she is only young, and soon after the bramble-patch, she has to rest._

_She transforms back to her human, hair astray, clothes wild and tattered, in order to use Eolas. By doing so, she finds a hollow amongst the roots of an ancient oak, not three minutes from her current location; a forest, comprised mainly of holly and oak, somewhere in Northumbria, she thinks. She begins to run, yet again._

* * *

_Strange thoughts race through the fabric of her mind while her bruised and bleeding body is at rest, longing for sleep: appeals to whatever higher power or powers that may be__ out there, hoping that her parents won't find her 'till she finds Rhydian, lest they bring her back to Janas pack. She _has _to see Rhydian. Just to make sure that he is ok. _Rhydian._ Who she _loves_. Who _loves_ her. They are _Mates_. It seems so _obvious_ now; it is quite common for the Bond, when it does form, to do so in the early teenage years, but Maddys parents had decided to keep that particular piece of Wolfblood lore from her, until she had "settled" somewhat into her "new pack", where she was an **Omega**, and Rhydian had no-one to teach him of the Bond. It explains so much; the constant longing, no, an urge, to be near Rhydian. The need to make sure he is safe. The bond between them. No, _the _Bond. _

_Thoughts swirling around her mind, Maddy begins to fall asleep._

_She is awakened by a severe pain in her wrist; she must have caught it on a sharp part of tree-root. She uncurls and holds said wrist in front of her face, nostrils flaring, taking in the scent. In the pre-dawn star-light, the blood looks almost black. She startles; the once inch-long laceration is growing longer, gradually, and with it, the terrible knowing that something very-not-good is happening to Rhydian. The Bond means that for any hurt dealt to one Mate, the exact same will happen to the other. It only occurs in Wolfbloods, and even then, it is rare. Maddy barks, once, for wolves bark only in true emergencies, transforms back into her wolf, and races off with murder on her mind, for whoever hurts Rhydian will soon learn to regret their actions._

**Did you like it? Please leave a comment; did you know Guests can comment? More to come! The next chapter will be longer. :)**


	2. Rhydians Run

**Authors note: :O Thankyou SO MUCH for the faves/follows/comments; they encouraged me to write this chaper, which is dedicated to Wolf200, who Beta'd this, and who also writes Wolfblood fanfic, which I reccomend you read.**

**Back to the story. :D**

_Rhydian is sitting on the floor in his room, despairing of life in general. Mysterious cuts and bruises have been showing up for the past few days, but the ones on his face have only just shown up, while the Vaughans are asleep, thank the Moon. Though how he will explain them, he has little-to-no idea._

_His adoptive parents are asleep, (his clock says it's four minutes to three in the morning, and he's not slept for days, as evidenced by the paleness in his face, and the darkness under his eyes; he has a sense that something important is happening, yet he's not sure what) so he is the only waking creature in his home. Well, it's not his home; it's the house in which he lives, yes, but not his home: Maddy isn't there._

_Something catches his eye. It glints when he tilts his head to see it better. He ignores it. But it's shiny, reflecting the lamp-light. He tilts his head again, to the other side, but still ignores it. He remembers what it is. He sighs, more in sadness and desperate infuriation than irritation._

_He flumps onto his stomach, and shuffles the short distance to his bed, reaching under._

_There is a flat, polished pebble in his hand, about the size of his palm, painstakingly carven with__ two incredibly realistic images of their wolves, one on each side; the side he is looking at (his head, too, is under his bed) has an image of his wolf. He turns it over, slowly, almost painfully. The perfectly carven image of Maddys wolf on this side, the eyes once suggesting laughter, seems to be taunting him. _I'm far away from you., _he thinks,_ But as soon as I can, I promise - I swear - I'll find you, Madds.

_He doesn't know of the Mate-Bond, he just knows of the void in his being, the hole in his emotion-heart, shaped like Maddy. He misses everything about her; the way her eyes gleamed when she smiled, the feel of her lips pressed against his, the sound of her howling her joy to the world. But most of all, he misses her. Her spirit, her... he has no word for it. Her essence, perhaps? That which makes Maddy, Maddy. Whatever it is called, he misses her._

_Shannon and Tom had called around earlier, for lunch at Bernies. They bought with them news of their brand-new relationship, and stories of Maddy, which they assumed would make him feel, if not better, then like they were always there to talk. Eventually, they all had to leave for their respective houses, because Rhydians eyes were pleading with them to just **stop**, because they were making him hurt more, even without intending to._

_He is thinking too much - _Best go for a run_, he decides. _Parents won't know anything about it.

_He gets out from under his bed, unconsciouly placing the wolf-stone in the pocket of his jeans, pulls out a jacket from the crumpled heap of laundry left on his floor, puts it on, and slips out the window, making about as much noise as a cat stalking prey._

* * *

_There is no snow, on the trail where Rhydian runs, but plenty of frost, glimmering on the spiders webs, strung accross the trees like natures embroidery, in the light of the half-full moon. The frost softly crunches underfoot, floating in the air when disturbed, then falling to the ground with a soft pitter-patter._

_Rhydian soon becomes aware of the intense cold - it must be about five in the morning, now, based on the position of the Moon amongst the stars - just how long has he been running for, trying to rid his mind of all thoughts of Maddy?_

_At this particular thought, he stumbles in his onward hurry, snagging his wrist on__ a small, cruelly sharp tree-branch on the way down. He examines the damage, then utters a curse. The glorified splinter is still in his wrist. He tugs it slightly; it's stuck, and he only worsens the laceration. He pulls it out, slowly, teeth grittted; but his hand slips, for it is shaking with cold, and he, while succeeding in removing the offending piece of tree, lenghtens the cut by another quarter inch. He swears once more, and decides to head for home, to get some antiseptic cream; Wolfbloods have a better immune system than humans, and heal faster, too, but this Wolfblood is not prepared to take the risk of a major infection._

* * *

_Wrist bandaged with some toilet roll and Germolene, Rhydian procceeds to try and get some sleep, for the first time in days. Seemingly seconds later, though it has surely been an hour, at least, he is roused from his rest. A scent, drifting through his left-open window. A very familiar scent..._

_"**Maddy!**"_

**OOH CLIFHANGER. **


	3. I missed you

**Ok. All I can say is, I am _truly_ sorry for the wait; Stuff has been happening in real life, some good, some bad, some truly terrible (i.e. almost dying), and I have had barely any time to write this; I am actually writing this A/N at 5 in the morning. This final chaper is probably shorter than you may want, but I _have_ been writing this mostly at ridiculous-o'clock in the morning. This chapter is dedicated to my best friend, who is a Maddian shipper, and a fellow massive fan of Wolfblood. Thanks [friends name here], for too many things to list. :) This is also unBeta'd, for I figured it would be best to get this chapter to you first, and have it Beta'd a little later. But anyway, to the story, and once again, I apologise.**

They stand there, each drinking in the sight and scent and sound of the other, as dehydrated wolves would gulp down water. The first thing they notice is the network of small lacerations crossing the others face and ears and limbs. Their marks are identical. This, too, they notice. Rhydian can't make sense of it. Maddy can. She has to tell him.

They step forward at the same time, then begin to circle each other, like the wolves whose shapes they are assuming. They gradually spiral closer and closer. Then they stop, so close as to feel each others breath on their faces. Maddy is the first one to become her human. Rhydian swiftly transforms also.

"I missed you." He states, simply. Tears shine, unfallen, in his eyes.

"I know," she replies, unusually solem, her eyes also shining. "But not as much as I missed you." This last, playful, string of words is accompanied by a gentle punch to Rhydians shoulder, and then grins from both of them. The tears disapear, never to be.

"I doubt that."

"Then we missed each other _equally. _How's _that_?"

"Better." Both of them are barely able to contain their glee at seeing each other; but it would not do, they both think, to howl just outside the house of Rhydians adoptive parents. They settle instead for an embrace, brimming over with barely suppressed emotion.

"Maddy... You're crushing me; you weren't... _this_ strong before you... left..."

She releases him, and laughs. He could listen to that laugh all day; the sound isn't anything beautiful, but to Rhydian, it is like the rain in a sand-strewn desert.

Then she turns serious again; "You're hurt." And those two, simple words are so full of pain and guilt, he feels as though he would do anything to stop it.

"Why?" Something has changed between them; he can feel it. But what, exactly, eludes his grasp.

"There's something that... happens... to Wolfbloods, when they meet what humans call, "the One"; I don't know how it works; nobody bothered to explain: maybe it's pheremones -"

"What, Maddy?"

She breathes out; this is all to much to take in. "It's the Bond; We're Mates."

Rhydian nods, silently digesting the words. "And the scratches?"

"What injures one Mate, injures the other."

"Like quantum entanglement."

Maddy gives him a look that translates roughly into: "Huh?".

"God knows... It's something Shan told me about."

"How did you hurt your wrist?"

"A tree." He waves the be-toilet-rolled forearm around non-commitally. "How did you hurt yourself?"

"I ran. To find you. I couldn't... I couldn't stay. Jana's kind, and always up for a chat; but I don't belong in the Wild: I belong with you."

"And I belong with you." They lean forward, holding hands, and gently press their foreheads together, closing their eyes.

"I've got so many things to tell you." She whispers, a smile in her voice.

"I look forward to it." He replies.

* * *

Shannon and Tom, fast asleep on the sofa at her house, awaken to the sound of wolves howling. Or, more accurately, Wolfbloods. Tom startles, and falls off the sofa. Shannon glares at him - somewhat affectionately - for scattering the remmanants of the popcorn. He clambers back on to the sofa, reaching for the remote to mute the last few minutes of some terrible film about zombies.

"Was that...?" He asks.

"She's back." They smile at each other. Maddy is back, and she and Rhydian are happy, and together, and apparently going for a run. It can't last forever, they must know that, it will last for the now, regardless of the future.

And that is what matters.


End file.
